Hostedmining.com [UPDATE]

[ranlo]

UPDATE ON HOSTEDMINING:

So apparently Joe, aka "zif33rs" lost his house that he was hosting all these machines at. He promised a new facility was coming to everyone even though he hadn't even been approved for it yet. I got messages from him late last week saying that he was "fucked" because his application for the new facility had been denied and he needed to be out of his other place basically immediately. All my hardware was taken offline on Friday in anticipation of the "big move". Now his cell phone is no longer accepting incoming calls and he's not responding to emails either. He hasn't been on bitcointalk.org since Sept. 14th either. Is there anyone else hosting with him that is in any sort of contact with him? I know he has a few other clients that are hosting a machine or two, but not sure whom exactly.

I have over $15k in equipment and cash that's in his possession and not making any money at the moment. Currently, I feel like it's all been stolen because he won't respond to me. If I don't hear back before the end of the week, I'm going to try to find what my legal options are. First, I'll have to find out where he's run off to, then next I'll have to try to reclaim my cash and hardware.

I'm not saying my stuff HAS been stolen, but right now it FEELS like it.

Joe, if you're reading this, get ahold of me and tell me what the fuck is going on.

-Moose

I've been spam emailing and calling him as well with no luck. Sending you a pm about this.

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[cptmooseinc]

Still attempting to contact Joe at this point. No returns to emails, phone calls, texts, 800 number on his website, support tickets, anything. Last login is still Sept. 14th which is the last contact I had with him after I didn't offer to co-sign on a new lease for him.

Is there anyone in the Seattle area that would be willing to go check at this address and see if he's still there or long gone?

Joseph Councilman
8428 17th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106

I'm really hoping he just freaked out, shut down, and has begun to ship back parts along with an explanation letter or something. I know for a fact that he just recently got 50BTC in funding from an investor (not me) and then shut everything down a week later. I have copies of his license and him holding the signed contract as well. He may be gone from the above address, but I have enough to go after him if need be. He'll have to turn up somewhere on a new lease, and then his name will pop up in a people finder website. You do NOT steal ~$15k from me.

[MsCollec]

I have a rig with him and he's yet to contact me based on our agreement 12/sept/2013

[cptmooseinc]

MsCollec, you had an agreement with him started on 9/12/13?

Just to let everyone know, I have a friend in Seattle that lives not far from the address Joe has on his license. Though I don't believe he lives there anymore, I believe it to be the residence of his ex-wife and children. He's supposed to be going to knock today and try to get SOME sort of contact information for Joe (if anyone he knows does still live there). Also, the address where the miners are hosted isn't too far from downtown Seattle. My friend has business there on Wednesday, so he'll also be dropping by the address where the farm was located to see if anyone is home.

I go offshore Wednesday for roughly two weeks, but I'll keep everyone updated if anything is found out. If nothing is found out by the time I get back, I'll be contacting a lawyer to see what options there may be. I ran a partial information check on Joe from PeopleFinders.com (didn't pay for the full background check...yet). It seems maybe Joe Councilman used to be known as Joe Kremenic. I wonder why someone would have to possibly change their last name???

At this point, I'm not willing to spend the $40 on a full background check just yet, but may soon. Maybe other hostedmining.com members can chip in towards it and we'll split the cost? I -will- find Joe somehow.

[yummyfritos]

Wow.

I was watching the securities thread last month when zif33rs was trying to raise funds for that big Cointerra buy.

Now that I see this thread in Services, I'm glad I didn't invest in any of his ventures. It looks like he tried to start
another one on litecoinglobal / btct.co after the first attempt was unsuccessful.

Now I guess we know why he was so eager to raise funds. He was trying to keep his house or something?
I'm sure that the investors would have been informed of that use of their funds, right?

I feel sorry for those who have assets tied up with the Silent One.

MsCollec's history reveals an even earlier date of business with zif33rs:  June 07, 2013.

My decision to purchase the rig was due to your quick, accurate, and competent response to my technical question. I look forward buying more rig from you.Thanks once again zif

cptmooseinc, I have some info that may be useful in tracking him down.

I will private message you.

No use letting the Silent One, who is reading these forums, know what is known about him.

[cptmooseinc]

I've actually had rigs hosted with him since late May. No signs of trouble the whole damn time. Still actively hunting Joseph Councilman.

It's looking more and more like a full background check will soon be ran, and I'll be consulting with an attorney once I return from being offshore. That is unless Joe reaches out and says something and returns my cash and hardware. I will find him otherwise, and I'll bury him through the legal system.

[BroadwayDraw]

Wow.

I was watching the securities thread last month when zif33rs was trying to raise funds for that big Cointerra buy.
Now that I see this thread in Services, I'm glad I didn't invest in any of his ventures. It looks like he tried to start
another one on litecoinglobal / btct.co after the first attempt was unsuccessful.


Now I guess we know why he was so eager to raise funds. He was trying to keep his house or something?
I'm sure that the investors would have been informed of that use of their funds, right?

I feel sorry for those who have assets tied up with the Silent One.

MsCollec's history reveals an even earlier date of business with zif33rs:  June 07, 2013.

My decision to purchase the rig was due to your quick, accurate, and competent response to my technical question. I look forward buying more rig from you.Thanks once again zif

cptmooseinc, I have some info that may be useful in tracking him down.

I will private message you.

No use letting the Silent One, who is reading these forums, know what is known about him.

It seems you are one of those that needs to pile onto someone when they appear weak or unable to defend themselves...Your assumptions are false, and your insinuations only reveal to those that know whats really going on that you are a weak minded individual looking for attention and a lynch mob...You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Joe has always proven to be an honest person.....for those of you who have rigs with him or loose ends... you can PM me for more info. I have the list of customers, please don't waste your time PMing me if you are not an actual customer.

[cptmooseinc]

To anyone hosting with Hostedmining.com:

I just had a chat with BroadwayDraw. He revealed some personal info regarding Joe. Definitely contact him to find out more. Please do not post what you're told in this thread. BroadwayDraw does know where Joe is. As for the hardware, that remains to be seen. It will relieve you a little to talk to BWD and see his proof.

As for now, I suggest all mud-slinging cease. We all have a right to be angry (and angry still), but just chill for a bit until more is known. I believe my contract will still most likely be voided and hosting providers switched (if comparable terms can be negotiated), but let's all just step back for a second.

-Moose

[yummyfritos]

It seems you are one of those that needs to pile onto someone when they appear weak or unable to defend themselves...Your assumptions are false, and your insinuations only reveal to those that know whats really going on that you are a weak minded individual looking for attention and a lynch mob...You have absolutely no idea what you are talking about. Joe has always proven to be an honest person.....for those of you who have rigs with him or loose ends... you can PM me for more info. I have the list of customers, please don't waste your time PMing me if you are not an actual customer.

It was and is very appropriate to point out these problems so that people know better than to invest in or buy from any of zif33rs' operations, like the one he tried to set up at litecoinglobal after the unsuccessful attempt with CoinTerra at btct.co.

It's most interesting that you attack personally rather than admit there have been serious problems with how zif33rs has done business. Look at the complaints in this thread. Where were you when people were trying to call and email him for what looks like over a week? Where were you while the HOSTEDMINING application still sits at litecoinglobal.com for more votes while zif33rs is not to be found?

He doesn't return, and instead someone with an unknown relationship with him shows up over a week later and claims to speak on his behalf, and the first thing they do is smear people who try to help track down a potential scammer? At the very least, we do now know it was deliberate unethical behavior, since you are here on his behalf but apparently he, you and nobody else were requested by him to directly phone/email or reply here since his disappearance.

BroadwayDraw, you and zif33rs both manifestly have a problem taking responsibility for unethical behavior.

You can say he has always been honest, but this behavior has been unethical, unless you believe that someone who holds people's assets has no obligations. Can you and zif33rs say that he fulfilled his obligations by not proactively informing people what was happening, and further remaining silent in the face of all the contact attempts by phone and email mentioned in this thread?

It's things like this that give Bitcoin a bad name. It says a lot about your lack of common decency and good will when the first response is not an apology on zif33r's behalf, but rather an attack and implying nothing wrong was done.

I don't need to waste my time further when the point of exercising judgment before investing in people with unethical behavior has been made. So if all you respond with is more irresponsible distancing of zif33rs from his actions with no explanation, I won't be replying. You should really spend your time on the issues mentioned above with zif33rs' customers and potential investors, such as withdrawing the litecoinglobal asset from voting.

[BroadwayDraw]

I want to be clear...I am not part of Hostedmining...I only built his website as an independent contractor...just like you guys, I was wondering wtf happened to zif33rs so I started researching and I was able to find some publicly available information which allowed me to track him down...my reply to fritos was because, with the information I found...I knew that yummyfrito's assumptions were incorrect and to be frank, I cannot stand people who gossip.

I feel that the people who have assets with Hostedmining have a right to know what I found so that they have an answer as to what happened. as far as everyone else is concerned, I feel like it is up to zif33rs to decide if he wants to tell everyone what happened.


 

[cptmooseinc]

I want to thank everyone who's helped thus far. Let's avoid a flame war. Joe's location is known. Next step is finding the hardware. I'll try dealing with that a bit more in the couple of hours I have free every night after my 14 hour days offshore.

-Moose

[Seccour]

He host a block eruptor for me... If you find the hardware, i wanted the block back...

[Dalkore]

Still attempting to contact Joe at this point. No returns to emails, phone calls, texts, 800 number on his website, support tickets, anything. Last login is still Sept. 14th which is the last contact I had with him after I didn't offer to co-sign on a new lease for him.

Is there anyone in the Seattle area that would be willing to go check at this address and see if he's still there or long gone?

Joseph Councilman
8428 17th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106

I'm really hoping he just freaked out, shut down, and has begun to ship back parts along with an explanation letter or something. I know for a fact that he just recently got 50BTC in funding from an investor (not me) and then shut everything down a week later. I have copies of his license and him holding the signed contract as well. He may be gone from the above address, but I have enough to go after him if need be. He'll have to turn up somewhere on a new lease, and then his name will pop up in a people finder website. You do NOT steal ~$15k from me.

I will swing by this address.  I need someone to send me his picture.  What is the list of hardware that the clients have offline right now?

[bobsag3]

Still attempting to contact Joe at this point. No returns to emails, phone calls, texts, 800 number on his website, support tickets, anything. Last login is still Sept. 14th which is the last contact I had with him after I didn't offer to co-sign on a new lease for him.

Is there anyone in the Seattle area that would be willing to go check at this address and see if he's still there or long gone?

Joseph Councilman
8428 17th Ave SW
Seattle, WA 98106

I'm really hoping he just freaked out, shut down, and has begun to ship back parts along with an explanation letter or something. I know for a fact that he just recently got 50BTC in funding from an investor (not me) and then shut everything down a week later. I have copies of his license and him holding the signed contract as well. He may be gone from the above address, but I have enough to go after him if need be. He'll have to turn up somewhere on a new lease, and then his name will pop up in a people finder website. You do NOT steal ~$15k from me.

I will swing by this address.  I need someone to send me his picture.  What is the list of hardware that the clients have offline right now?

+1 For the man doing the leg work!

[ranlo]

Just because there's been pm's and statements about this (including Dalkore's own), I'm going to go ahead and let people know what's going on. I truly hope this doesn't undermine BroadwayDraw, but it's all public information so hopefully it doesn't cause an issue. I'm doing this so that people know what's happening; especially those following the situation and those that may choose to get mixed in with Joe in the future. So here we go:

Joseph is (or was) in jail. His record for this current jailing is as follows:

   
Cause No: C00767037
Court: SOUTHWEST
RCW / ORD: 46.61.502
Release Reason: Conditional release
Bail Amount: $5,000.00
Charge: FTA/DUI

Cause No: 073026791
Court: KING COUNTY SUPERIOR COURT
RCW / ORD: 9.23.010
Release Reason:
Bail Amount: $1,000.00
Charge: CONTEMPT COURT-CASH

These are from his move ("transport") on the 26th of this month. I'm a bit confused with the DUI, stating "conditional release," because his record doesn't show a release yet, but regardless, that's what has been going on as of lately. Whether this is the entire reason he's disappeared or not is not known; we just know that as of at least the last week, he's been in the jail system.

[ranlo]

Update for anyone who cares: Joseph was released yesterday.

Release Date: 10/01/2013 17:53

[MsCollec]

any updates?  I am yet to hear anything from him

[Seccour]

Update for anyone who cares: Joseph was released yesterday.

Release Date: 10/01/2013 17:53

If he was released... Where is he ? ^^

[cptmooseinc]

He's out and been in contact with me. Supposed to talk to him tonight on the phone.

[kuusj98]

Free bump.

Great to see more services to trade e-coins!
I don't need to trade right now but I will definantly try you one time